Well, it was our first trip Home as members (after renting twice.) I have a feeling that if I try to do a full trip report it will probably end up being 10,000 words. So instead, I'll just share a few random thoughts from our stay.
- Got our first official "Welcome Home" from the CM that checked us in.
- Don't know any more about how rooms are assigned than I did when we left. The CM asked us if we had any special requests. I asked for Quiet Pool view, and she spent about 5 minutes looking before coming up with a room. Are they assigned in advance? Are they assigned at check in? Who knows!!!
- Oh, and you will never hear me make a comment about the "long BWV corridors." I walked farther than that last week at a resort in Tucson. And, with all the walking you do at WDW, that last few hundred feet to the room each time was nothing in my book.
- Room was in great condition. No bugs (bed, or otherwise). I really didn't care for some of the room decor at BWV. But, if this were any other hotel room, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what the room looked like 5 minutes after we left. In other words, since I'm not taking up residence in the room, the decor wasn't offensive enough to deter me from staying there again. (VWL on the other hand--yuch--that's really not my thing. But I know there are people who love it--more power to you. Different strokes...)
- On Wednesday we had a little rain, and the roof to the Boardwalk Resort started leaking right at the entry way under the enormous horse / chandelier thing. Right under the fixture is one of those round sofa pieces, and when I first noticed the leaking they literally had a child's plastic backyard pool sitting on top to catch the water!! By the next morning, there were only a couple of towels left, so I assume they got it fixed ASAP (or at least weren't expecting any more rain right away.
)
- Our little jaunt to SSR (our Home resort) was an unqualified success. Very impressed with just about everything I saw. Admittedly, upon entering the food court I kinda had a "this is it??" moment, and the boat dock is in a really ridiculous location. Other than that, no complaints I can think of.
- We took the Keys to the Kingdom tour and had a blast. As much as I read the DIS, I was afraid that the tour might be a waste. But I can honestly say that 90% of the info from the tour was new to me. Oh, and I had heard people say that the vaunted Utilidors are a disappointment. Well, I wouldn't say that I was disappointed--IMO, it was exactly what one would expect of utility corridors.
Cutest moment of the tour came when we took our first trip "backstage." We went to the parade staging area off of Frontierland. Apparently this is not an area frequented by characters, but shortly after we arrived, several CMs were seen preparing for some impromptu western show that was performed on the street nearby. Well, let's just say that we saw a few characters that were not quite ready to meet and greet the public. While the CMs themselves didn't think anything of it (after all, they were backstage), our tour guide was quite taken aback. She was so into the Disney Magic that she just didn't think it right for guests to see the CMs in such a manner. She kept trying to steer our view away from the CMs ("hey, let me show you the waste processing facility again").
- Another night we did the late EMH at MGM. While I'm a big fan of the nighttime EMH (given that we are not early risers on vacation), the MGM EMH was a zoo. As one would expect, the crowds from Fantasmic dumped right onto Sunset and the queues for TOT and RNR were immediately jammed. FastPass was open, and we quickly grabbed them for both rides. FP return times were very short (like 20 min from the time we got the pass), but they were also going quickly. I got to the TOT FastPass machines and the lines were literally 6-8 deep at each machine. When I first arrived, I believe the return time was posted as 10:20 (This is around 9:50). By the time I got up to the machine, my return time was 10:45!!! That's how quickly the passes were going! By the time we exited RNR, the FP machines were closed for the night--no doubt having expended their supply of passes through to midnight.
I guess the moral is that if you don't go to Fantasmic, you will probably have the run of the park between 9 - 9:30pm. After that, I don't see how there could be a night when TOT and RNR wouldn't get swamped.
- Best food I had on this trip--you're gonna laugh--was the Onion Rings at Flame Tree BBQ. Come to think of it, the BBQ Pork Sandwich wasn't bad either, but the corn was mushy.
- Lastly, I'll touch on the issue of transportation. This was our first stay at an Epcot resort. Many people tout the convenience of the two DVC properties in this area. It really took me a few days to come to grips with my idea of convenience. I'll spare you all of the details and just post the relevant part--I've decided that the only transportation option that I am willing to call "convenient" at WDW any longer is the ability to have a car parked right outside my room at SSR or OKW.
Granted, it was very nice to be able to leave our room at 8:45 and get to Epcot in time for Illuminations. But other than that, I think we're just debating variations on a theme. Walk to a theme park vs. walk to a bus stop. Sitting on a bus vs. sitting on a boat. While the transportation options at BWV are DIFFERENT than any I had used before on Disney property, I didn't necessarily feel they were better to any substantial degree. And, I honestly missed the close access that we've had to Downtown Disney in the past.
The one recurring theme in any Disney trip is walking. You simply can't avoid it. And we certainly didn't mind walking to MGM and Epcot--but at the same time we also didn't look at it as a big selling point for the resort or a reason to stay there again.
So, in trying to determine what really represents convenience to me, I keep going back to the car. The one thing I can confidently say about BWV is that I did not like the parking arrangements. Valet means tipping and waiting for someone to fetch the car. Self parking means a pretty long trip from the lot to the room. But, at OKW and SSR, the lots are right outside the buildings. At those two resorts, you get valet parking distance (from the room) without the additional cost or time expenditure.
More than anything, the OKW / SSR parking arrangement suits our tastes and needs. If we want to run to Earl of Sandwich for a takeout dinner or Publix for some more Pears, we don't have to walk all the way to the self-park lot and back, or go through the valet hassle for a 15 minute trip.
So, now we begin looking forward to our next trip...
A final thanks to everyone who provided advice that helped us on this trip. I'm not sure that it could have been much better.
- Got our first official "Welcome Home" from the CM that checked us in.
- Don't know any more about how rooms are assigned than I did when we left. The CM asked us if we had any special requests. I asked for Quiet Pool view, and she spent about 5 minutes looking before coming up with a room. Are they assigned in advance? Are they assigned at check in? Who knows!!!
- Oh, and you will never hear me make a comment about the "long BWV corridors." I walked farther than that last week at a resort in Tucson. And, with all the walking you do at WDW, that last few hundred feet to the room each time was nothing in my book.
- Room was in great condition. No bugs (bed, or otherwise). I really didn't care for some of the room decor at BWV. But, if this were any other hotel room, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what the room looked like 5 minutes after we left. In other words, since I'm not taking up residence in the room, the decor wasn't offensive enough to deter me from staying there again. (VWL on the other hand--yuch--that's really not my thing. But I know there are people who love it--more power to you. Different strokes...)
- On Wednesday we had a little rain, and the roof to the Boardwalk Resort started leaking right at the entry way under the enormous horse / chandelier thing. Right under the fixture is one of those round sofa pieces, and when I first noticed the leaking they literally had a child's plastic backyard pool sitting on top to catch the water!! By the next morning, there were only a couple of towels left, so I assume they got it fixed ASAP (or at least weren't expecting any more rain right away.
)- Our little jaunt to SSR (our Home resort) was an unqualified success. Very impressed with just about everything I saw. Admittedly, upon entering the food court I kinda had a "this is it??" moment, and the boat dock is in a really ridiculous location. Other than that, no complaints I can think of.
- We took the Keys to the Kingdom tour and had a blast. As much as I read the DIS, I was afraid that the tour might be a waste. But I can honestly say that 90% of the info from the tour was new to me. Oh, and I had heard people say that the vaunted Utilidors are a disappointment. Well, I wouldn't say that I was disappointed--IMO, it was exactly what one would expect of utility corridors.
Cutest moment of the tour came when we took our first trip "backstage." We went to the parade staging area off of Frontierland. Apparently this is not an area frequented by characters, but shortly after we arrived, several CMs were seen preparing for some impromptu western show that was performed on the street nearby. Well, let's just say that we saw a few characters that were not quite ready to meet and greet the public.
While the CMs themselves didn't think anything of it (after all, they were backstage), our tour guide was quite taken aback. She was so into the Disney Magic that she just didn't think it right for guests to see the CMs in such a manner. She kept trying to steer our view away from the CMs ("hey, let me show you the waste processing facility again").- Another night we did the late EMH at MGM. While I'm a big fan of the nighttime EMH (given that we are not early risers on vacation), the MGM EMH was a zoo. As one would expect, the crowds from Fantasmic dumped right onto Sunset and the queues for TOT and RNR were immediately jammed. FastPass was open, and we quickly grabbed them for both rides. FP return times were very short (like 20 min from the time we got the pass), but they were also going quickly. I got to the TOT FastPass machines and the lines were literally 6-8 deep at each machine. When I first arrived, I believe the return time was posted as 10:20 (This is around 9:50). By the time I got up to the machine, my return time was 10:45!!! That's how quickly the passes were going! By the time we exited RNR, the FP machines were closed for the night--no doubt having expended their supply of passes through to midnight.
I guess the moral is that if you don't go to Fantasmic, you will probably have the run of the park between 9 - 9:30pm. After that, I don't see how there could be a night when TOT and RNR wouldn't get swamped.
- Best food I had on this trip--you're gonna laugh--was the Onion Rings at Flame Tree BBQ. Come to think of it, the BBQ Pork Sandwich wasn't bad either, but the corn was mushy.
- Lastly, I'll touch on the issue of transportation. This was our first stay at an Epcot resort. Many people tout the convenience of the two DVC properties in this area. It really took me a few days to come to grips with my idea of convenience. I'll spare you all of the details and just post the relevant part--I've decided that the only transportation option that I am willing to call "convenient" at WDW any longer is the ability to have a car parked right outside my room at SSR or OKW.
Granted, it was very nice to be able to leave our room at 8:45 and get to Epcot in time for Illuminations. But other than that, I think we're just debating variations on a theme. Walk to a theme park vs. walk to a bus stop. Sitting on a bus vs. sitting on a boat. While the transportation options at BWV are DIFFERENT than any I had used before on Disney property, I didn't necessarily feel they were better to any substantial degree. And, I honestly missed the close access that we've had to Downtown Disney in the past.
The one recurring theme in any Disney trip is walking. You simply can't avoid it. And we certainly didn't mind walking to MGM and Epcot--but at the same time we also didn't look at it as a big selling point for the resort or a reason to stay there again.
So, in trying to determine what really represents convenience to me, I keep going back to the car. The one thing I can confidently say about BWV is that I did not like the parking arrangements. Valet means tipping and waiting for someone to fetch the car. Self parking means a pretty long trip from the lot to the room. But, at OKW and SSR, the lots are right outside the buildings. At those two resorts, you get valet parking distance (from the room) without the additional cost or time expenditure.
More than anything, the OKW / SSR parking arrangement suits our tastes and needs. If we want to run to Earl of Sandwich for a takeout dinner or Publix for some more Pears, we don't have to walk all the way to the self-park lot and back, or go through the valet hassle for a 15 minute trip.
So, now we begin looking forward to our next trip...
A final thanks to everyone who provided advice that helped us on this trip. I'm not sure that it could have been much better.
